Closure for bottles, jars, and similar containers



June 23, 1936. C. D, MAGNESEN ET AL 2,045,480

CLOSURE FOR BOTTLES, JARS, AND SIMILAR CONTAINERS Filed July 5l, 1933 Patented .Func 23, i936 PATENT OFFICE CLOSURE FOR BOTTLES, JARS, AND SIMILAR CONTAINERS Charles D. Magnesen and Hooker Magnesen,

Chicago, Ill., assignors to The Magncsen Seal and Closure Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application July 31, 1933, Serial No. 682,920

5 Claims.

Our invention relates to a closure or cap adapted to effectively close and seal the mouths of bottles, jars, metal cans or other containers and which may readily be applied and removed by hand as many times as desired. The principal object of our invention is to attain a high and uniform degree of effectiveness in closing and sealing the bottles or other containers, notwithstanding some irregularity in forming the neck openings to be sealed, and other objects are to provide a simple and inexpensive cap which can be cheaply manufactured and which can be applied and removed easily by manual operation a great number of times without becoming distorted or losing its effectiveness, and which in general shall be better adapted to serve the purposes for which it is designed than other bottle caps known to us. The invention provides a closure having a constant downward pulling tendency making it an effective seal for ordinary purposes. It has the additional advantage, however, of permitting the escape of excessive internal pressure by moving to a slightly open position. When the internal pressure has again become normal the construction of the fingers is such that the constant downward tension of the fingers will reseat the closure in its normal position. To these ends we have designed and invented the novel-bottle and jar closure hereinafter described in detail, the essential elements of our invention being more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Of the drawing, Figure 1 shows a top plan View of our invention in a preferred form; Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the same, certain parts being broken away and other parts shown in elevation to better illustrate its construction; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary portion of a central sec-y tion of a modified form of closure; Figs. 4 and 5 are similar fragmentary sections of two other forms; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation showing a modified form of the marginal ngers of the inner closure member; and Fig. '7 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of a further modified form of my invention.

Like reference characters indicate the same parts' in all the figures of the drawing.

Describing first the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the closure consists of two principal sheet metal members and one auxiliary member, in addition to the usual compressible gasket, or liner, of cork, or other suit-able equivalent material, the closure being in this instance shown applied to the top or neck of a container such as a metal oil or varnish-can. This neck is formed with an external annular channel 2 a short rdistance below the top of the neck, which may be recurved inwardly at 3 around the neck opening for the purpose of providing greater strength and vregularity of surface at the seating or sealing face of the closure.

The inner member of the closure is a, generally cup-shaped member 4, the central portion of the top of which may be domed as shown, the domed portion 5 being surrounded by an annular plane portion 6 in alignment with the seating face or edge 3 of the neck I of the container. Within the member 4 is arranged the auxiliary metal member 'I preferably formed with a narrow flange 8 arranged to receive the liner 9, which, when the closure is applied, bears directly on the top face of the neck of the container.

Outside the annular portion 6 of the member 4 the metal of the member is bent downwardly around the top of the auxiliary member l, and connected to this downwardly bent portion is a series of narrow fingers I which collectively form a divided downwardly extending skirt. Intermediate their length these fingers are formed with transverse bends II and the ends of the fingers are formed with inward rolls I2, of substantial size and having free ends arranged to engage and cooperate resiliently with the overhanging vengaging face provided by the upper portion of the channel 2 of the neck of the container.

The outer member of the closure is an annular member I3 formed with a skirt I4 having an external bead or flange I .at its lower edge for imparting strength and providing a convenient finger grip for manipulating the cap in applying and removing it.

In applying the closure the inner member 4, with the auxiliary member 'l and liner 9 assembled therein are slipped over the neck of the container, the fingers I0 yielding sufficiently to permit the rolls I2 to pass into the groove of the neck and make elastic engagement with it, and the outer member I3 is then forced downward over the inner member, the inner face of the skirt of the outer member bearing against and slightly pressing inwardly the fingers at their bends II vand then bearing against the outer side of the that the rolls I2 cooperate at their free inner 55 ends with the overhanging portion of the groove or channel 2, from which, (in connection with the bends II) it results that the fingers exhibit a considerable degree of longitudinal elasticity with reference to tensional strains in the direction of their length. This longitudinal elasticity exhibited by the fingers produces a yielding stress exerted around the marginof the inner or closure member tending to draw it downwardly on the container top. To attain greater resiliency in the fingers, they may be given a double bend, as illustrated in the sinuous bend I6 in Fig. 4, or may have zig-zag corrugations, as shown in Fig. 5, where the corrugated portion is marked Il.

Furthermore, it will bc noted that the central flat portion of the inner member I extends some little distance radially beyond or outside the edge of the sealing face of the container top, from Which it results that the yielding pull of the several fingers around their point of connection with the central portion mentioned enables it to weave or flex slightly to adjust itself to slight irregularities in the edge of the container top, and this contributes to an effective sealing of the container.

While the outer member may conveniently be formed of sheet metal of the same character as that used for the inner member, it need have no resilient or elastic qualities, and may be made of any other strong, stiff material.

For the purpose of positively locking the inner and outer members of the closure together, a diametrically opposite pair of lugs I8 (shown in different positions in full and dotted lines) are struck up from' the top of the inner member 4 which may be bent outwardly over the inner edge of the outer member, as shown in full lines'. These may be used for greater security in shipment or handling filled containers, but ordinarily need not be employed.

For the purpose of preventing undetected substitution of the contents of a container, these lugs are so constructed that the closure cannot be removed from the container without rebending the lugs into a perpendicular position, the lugs then having a tendency to break oli. It will be noted, however, that in the event such lugs are broken ofi' the efficiency of the closure for reuse is not thereby impaired, due to the additional or auxiliary top member 'I in Figure 2 which auxiliary top member is not disclosed in other figures.

In Figs. 3, 4, and 5 forms of our novel closure are shown applied to glass or stone bottles or jars formed with overhanging engaging faces or surfaces adapted to cooperate with the rolls I2 of the inner member in the same manner as the groove 2 of the closure shown in Fig. 2. In the container of Fig. 3 the top of the container is formed with a square shoulder I9; in that of Fig. 4 with an angular beveled shoulder 20; and in Fig. 5 the top 2| of the container is formed with an outwardly flared or funnel-shaped face.

In the closure illustrated in Fig. 3 the inner member, marked 22, is not perforated to provide lugs such as the lugs I8 shown in Fig. 2, and consequently an auxiliary metal member, such as the member 1 above mentioned is not necessary. 'Ihe flexible margin of the inner member 22 in this form of our invention, projecting radially beyond the seating face of the container cap, is of course free to weave or fiex slightly and thus adjust itself to the seating edge of the container top, notwithstanding some irregularity in the container top, in the same manner as the marsiderable irregularity in the contour of such face, or variations in the thickness of the gaskets used;

ginal portion of the member 'I in the form of our invention previously described.

In the form of our invention shown in Fig. 3, moreover, the top of the member 22 is but slightly dished, so that it may be sprung, with an elastic snap action, from the extreme upper posl tion shown, to an extreme opposite lower position in which the peripheral upper portion of the cap will flare slightly upwardly, with the effect of spreading the ends of the row of fingers outwardly, thus facilitating its application to the bottle neck. When the outer member is then applied and forced downwardly so as to press the fingers inwardly it will automatically cause the `central portion of the top to snap outwardly 15 In certain cases, as where a relatively thin 25 'metal is used and it is desired to increase the stiliness of action, the rolls at the ends of the fingers ,may have a double curvature, as shown in Fig. 7, where the rolls, marked 24, are of the same length as the full width of the fingers, and each roll has 30 an axial curvature upona radius less than the radius of the group of fingers.

It will be noted that the full closing and clamping effect of the outer member on the inner member is attained as soon as the lower edge of the. former touches the maximum diameter of the rolls at the ends of the fingers of the inner member, and extreme accuracy in forcing the outer member down to the limit of its movement is not necessary.

In practice it has been found that the elasticity of the many rolls and fingers is such that the cap will make a perfect closure at the sealing face of the top of the container, notwithstanding a conand furthermore, while the cap will withstand a very high degree of internal pressure, it will, in case of excessively high pressure, yield and then reseat itselfwhen the excess pressure has escaped. Moreover, since the sealing action is largely due to the elastic action of parts which are spaced somewhat away from the neck opening, and there is no large unbroken eld of frictional contact of the members which might be cemented together by portions of the contents of the container, there is very little liability for the parts to freeze or stick together, as is the case with many closures used for containers such as those above mentioned. 60

We are aware that bottle closures of the general type known are shown in the art, but so far as we are aware, none of them are so constructed as to exhibit effective longitudinal elastic stress upon the finger members, which in applicants device is attained and contributed to in varying measure by the cylindriform open end rolls of the narrow fingers, the transverse bends of such fingers, the bearing of the outer member of the closure upon the outer face of the transverse bends, and the flexible extended margin of the inner closure member extending beyond the seating face of the container top,

While in the various forms of our invention above described we have made mention of the outer, orY locking member asan essential part of p the complete device, it will be understood that in some cases a portion of the advantages of our invention may be realized by using only the inner member of the device, and we regard such construction as within the scope of certain of the claims hereinafter set forth. In case of the use of our invention in such form we contemplate shortening the length of the fingers by carrying the cuts dening them to a level only a short distance above the upper side of the rolls, or by making the members of relatively stiff and strong material, so that the rolls will exhibit suicient strength and stress to effect eicient sealing.

We claim:

1. A closure comprising a top member adapted to cover the opening of a receptacle, a plurality of relatively-marrow longitudinally-yielding ngers originating at and depending from said top member about the periphery thereof, each finger being formed with an outward resilient horizontal corrugation intermediate its ends and with an inwardly-curled resilient terminal portion, and an outer member contacting the outward bulges of the fingers, whereby the outer member subjects said ngers to pressure occasioning longitudinal extension of said ngers to thereby compensate for irregularities on the underside of the shoulder of a receptacle to which said fingers may be applied.

2. A closure comprising a top member larger than and adapted to cover the opening of a receptacle, a plurality of longitudinally-yielding ngers originating' at and depending from said top member about the periphery thereof, each finger being formed with resilient outward bends intermediate its ends and with an inwardly curled resilient portion at its lower end, and an outer member frictionally contacting the outward bends of the ngers, whereby said outer member subjects the fingers to pressure occasioning longitudinal extension thereof While maintaining the lower ends of the fingers in contact with the receptacle.

3. A closure comprising a top member adapted to cover the opening of a receptacle, a plurality of to cover the opening of a receptacle, a plurality of relatively narrow longitudinally-yielding 11ngers originating at and depending therefrom, said fingers having resilient transverse outward beads intermediate their ends and inwardly curled open rolls at their free ends, and a retaining member telescoped over said first-mentioned member contacting said beads on the fingers, but otherwise spaced therefrom, whereby the pressure of the retaining member effectuates longitudinal extension of the lingers and produces a tight yielding seal between the top member and the mouth of the receptacle to which said closure may be applied.

5.`A closure comprising a top member larger than and adapted to cover the opening of a receptacle, a plurality of longitudinally-yielding f ngers originating at and depending from said top member about the periphery thereof, each iinger being formed with a resilient bend or bends intermediate its ends and with an inwardly-curled resilient portion at its lower end, an outer memyber frictionally contacting the outward bends of the fingers, whereby said outer member subjects the fingers to pressure occasloning longitudinal extension thereof while maintaining the lower ends of the fingers in contactwith the receptacle, and destructible means connecting the top member and the retaining member to prevent undetected substitution of the contents of a receptacle on` which the closure is applied.

CHARLES D. MAGNESEN.

HOOKER MAGNESEN. 

